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Apple Products, Doug, and DD-808

I went golfing this morning with my good friend Doug. If you follow this blog, you met him in at least one past entry. Also, if you follow this blog, I’ll be forever amazed because I typically do not share anything of consequence. I deem that following this blog is a total waste of your valuable time. Still, some insist on doing this, so I feel compelled to make it worth their while, at least in some small way. Since I never know what’s going to errupt from my fluttering fingers, it’s difficult to aim them at a topic that the millions of people, who read this, find interesting. Ok, make that 12 people, not millions. I exagerate a little. It’s my fingers just going wild and wishing it were true.

So, for you 12 people, thanks for at least looking. I appreciate it.

Golfing was fun, as it always is. Doug and I enjoy spending a few hours, about once a week, hitting a ball, then wandering off to find it. Once in a while we actually do really well, but Doug always does better. I didn’t understand why until recently. Thinking it was a simple matter of him being better than me, I never questioned his score when I wrote it down. He always has me keep score, and drive the cart. So, when he asks me what I got on a hole, he simply subtracts a couple of strokes when he tells me his. I never get his score first. But now the cat is out of the bag … today I counted every swing he took … and he still beat me. The only reason I can think of why that happened is because by keeping track of his swings, I lost track of mine and had to rely on him for my score. So, I’m just going to quit counting and enjoy the company of a friend as we wander around the golf course on a sunny day. Life is good.

Now, for some BIG news … Diane let me buy a new laptop. It’s a 13.3 MacBookPro. This is interesting for me because I’ve “made do” with retired laptops for years with little or no problems to speak of. By retired, I mean those discarded by my previous employer for a nominal monitary stipend. Cheap, actually, so it’s been good. Friends and family have benefitted as well, and I’ve been kept busy saving them from certain doom by removing viruses, and malware. For one who may be interested in IT job security, MicroSoft is the way to go. I did that for 20+ years and really loved working with Windows products. Once I retired from that, however, I decided to get a Mac to see what all the fuss was about. Now, I like it a lot. And, I still use Microsoft products on it. So, I’m just living in a dream world.

Now I have my 27″ iMac, an iPhone, an iPad, and a MacBook Pro. Considering the nature of Apple’s naming system, it seems to me that iPro would be more appropriate for their laptops. For me, that will be it’s name from now on. I enjoy my Apples and now have one for pretty much any occasion, and they all “talk” to each other. How can it get any better?

DD-808 … “what’s that about?” you may ask. “It’s the designation of a United States Navy Destroyer with hull number 808,” I’d say. More specifically, it’s the USS Dennis J. Buckley, my first ship. It was commissioned in 1944 and retired in 1973. I was on board 1964-1966, toward the end of it’s tenure. I won’t bore you with old sea stories about that ship, right now, but will share with you that Diane and I are coordinating a ship reunion for DD-808 this coming October. It’s going to be in San Diego, California, it’s old homeport. Other crew members have coordinated in the past, and a precedent was set for it to happen every other year. I think that’s bi-annual. At the last reunion, in Buffalo, NY, in 2010, I, for some odd reason, raised my hand when the question was posed as to who might want to do the 2012 reunion. At this point, I can only believe that I was temporarily insane when I raised that arm. Then, again, maybe it’s not so bad because it’s turning out to be the biggest reunion ever for that small ship. All the credit goes to three people who have been calling ex-crewmembers over the years, compiling a pretty comprehensive list of contacts. It will be interesting to see how everything goes in October, and you can be sure I’ll let you know.

Just one snippet of a sea story for DD-808 … when I went aboard the ship in 1964 it was in Bremerton, Washington, not far from my home in Scappoose, Oregon. Just a couple of hours away. But, it was just finishing a yard period and soon sailed for San Diego. On that first trip, off the coast of Oregon, I was on the main deck when all the sudden the ship was surrounded by about a zillion porpoises. They were absolutely everywhere. It appeared that they stretched from horizon to horizon, but I know that couldn’t be possible, unless all the porpoises in the world were having a convention, right there, right then. No other way. It was amazing to see as they jumped along side the ship, escorting us on a southerly course for an hour or so, then they were gone. I’ve never seen anything like that since.

Now I’m getting slammy-eyed, a sure indication that I need to get prone quickly before I trip over something, fall down, break a bone, have to go to the hospital, and get a cast on a significant body part on which I rely. That wouldn’t be good. No sir, it would not be good.